Indicators in risk management: Are they a user-friendly interface between natural hazards and societal responses? Challenges and opportunities after UN Sendai conference in 2015

Abstract

Risk management indicators are used to mitigate the potentially dramatic effects of natural hazards. Local authorities and managers use them in elaborating rescue and urbanism plans, which do not always work, highlighting society's vulnerability in the particular context of global environmental and climate changes. Within this context, the United Nations (Sendai, 2015) advised to construct a series of indicators to better cope with human losses and economic disasters. Actually, the question is whether or not such indicators do constitute successful decision-making tools. In this article, we critically reviewed the recent literature (from 2013 to 2017) using the Web of Science database of Clarivate Analytics to assess how indicators are currently being constructed in risk management, with a focus on risks of inundations, coastal and seismic risks. This task allowed us to discuss the spatial and temporal scale at which indicators of risk management can be applicable, to what extent they should be physically oriented and if they can fit the needs of governance framework. Based on our findings, we suggest further work on a new series of less descriptive, more dynamic and more user-friendly indicators. Finally, we encourage the dire need for continuous work to overcome the misinterpretation of used indicators and how to reduce the communication gap between the scientific community, decision makers, managers and the population.

Systemic vulnerability of coastal territories to erosion and marine flooding: A conceptual and methodological approach applied to Brittany (France)

“…This spatial, social and environmental differentiation, as well as the diversity of disciplinary approaches, explains the coexistence of multiple definitions of vulnerability, a term that is still widely debated as shown by the number of reviews addressing this question [4,35,[42][43][44][45][46][47][48]. However, acquiring knowledge on the vulnerability is essential for defining and implementing public policies of risk management [12,44]. Although to a large extent risk management is defined by laws and regulations, local stakeholders still have some autonomy to implement their own management strategy.…”

“…Indeed, the meaning given to the results and their appropriation by the stakeholders (managers, decision-makers, inhabitants, etc.) are decisive factors in the outcome, its analysis and in its operational application to management [12,49,69,71].…”

“…This is particularly true in the case of Brittany, where the physical geography of coastal territories is highly heterogeneous [11]. Regardless of uncertainties on future erosion and marine flooding risks, for this knowledge to contribute to the strategic thinking on territorial vulnerability, it must be developed, shared and collectively maintained, not only by scientists but also by users of the territories, especially coastal risk management stakeholders [12].…”

Local risk awareness and precautionary behaviour in a multi-hazard region of North Morocco

“…Les variables détectées peuvent contribuer à la réduction des risques dans le nord du Maroc et servir d'étude de cas de référence pour d'autres études portant sur le bassin de la Méditerranée et ailleurs dans le monde, tout en tenant compte des différences culturelles et en analysant la perception des risques propres à l'endroit étudié [18], afin d'élaborer un plan efficace d'atténuation des catastrophes. Même si le nord du Maroc, également dénommée Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceïma, n'a fait l'objet d'un découpage territorial qu'en 2015 [35], il s'agit dans son ensemble d'une région religieuse et traditionnelle, où l'on peut observer de nombreuses hétérogénéités locales.…”

A New Approach to the Fine Kinney Method with AHP Based ELECTRE I and Math Model on Risk Assessment for Natural Disasters

“…Natural disasters have consisted of earthquakes, floods, landslides, fire, storm/typhoon, and many more, etc. Many papers have been conducted related to natural disasters in the world (Guo et al, 2017, Supriyadi et al, 2018, Ivčević et al, 2019, Eyre et al, 2020, Lee et al, 2020. Figure 1 depicts the distribution of several natural disasters in the world (Dilley et al, 2005).…”